We manufacture stainless steel earth tags, locknuts and washers right here in the UK

When productivity slips, try these 5 simple techniques

Manufacturing is no different to any other industry; when you find yourself or your team becoming unproductive, the quality of work slips, job satisfaction makes its way out of the back door and the business suffers significantly as a result.

The worst thing? It doesn’t need to be like this. We’re all human and, from time to time, our ability to be productive slips, but there are thankfully some tried-and-tested methods for ensuring you regain your productivity mojo, and we’d like to share our favourites with you today.

1. Don’t stack up your tasks

Lots of us are guilty of this. In order to feel productive, we end up stacking multiple tasks on top of one another.

The result? It simply looks like we’re busy, as opposed to actually being busy. And that’s no good for anyone.

The solution? Before you start each day, take a look at that to-do list. Are you being realistic with how much you think you can get done? If not, trim the to-do list until it makes sense. By working on one task at a time, you’ll get more done – it’s that simple.

2. Don’t sacrifice your sleep

If you slip behind at work it can be tempting to work every hour god sends, but ‘pulling an all-nighter’ isn’t quite as valiant as it might sound.

What often happens in such scenarios is that you do indeed end up working all night but subsequently pay for it during the days that follow.

Resist the urge to sacrifice your sleep for presumed productivity – it rarely works. Instead, rely on the tips in this blog post and the small productivity habits that enable you to work your normal hours!

3. Use select productivity tools

We fortunately live in a world that features numerous productivity tools that can help us all achieve more in a day than we ever thought possible.

There’s just one problem – use too many of them (or the wrong kind), and you end up spending more time configuring the tools themselves and switching between apps as opposed to actually getting stuff done.

Find a good task manager, to-do list and project management app, and stick by them – resist the temptation to continually add to your productivity tool belt.

4. Stop wondering how the competition does it

One of the most frustrating results of poor bouts of productivity is that the competition often steals a march. And, when that happens, you might struggle to work out why they’re doing things better than you.

Don’t waste your time with those thoughts. Clearly, they’re more productive than you, but pontificating over how they’re doing it will only make you even less productive.

Instead, focus on your own goals and ability to be as productive as you can be – that’s what will see you steal a march on the competition.

5. Give yourself a break

We mean this in a couple of ways. Firstly, your inability to be productive might be the result of being burnt out. If that’s the case, take a break; just a few days away from the business will help your mind reset itself and return ready to get cracking.

Secondly, if you find that you’re suddenly less productive than you used to be, don’t sweat it. Regaining your productivity mojo will take time, but if you follow the rest of the tips above, you’ll get there eventually. You’re not superhuman!

Wrapping up

We’ll say it once more – you’re only human. No one can be ultra-productive all of the time.

What separates the ultra-productive from those who stagnate is the ability to recognise when things slip and ensure you work to bring yourself back to your best.